


Of Cardassians and Amnesia

by TrekkingThroughLife



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-05 22:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10317917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrekkingThroughLife/pseuds/TrekkingThroughLife
Summary: Garak has amnesia and Bashir doesn't know what to do with this unnamed Cardassian child.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Prompted Writing: Star Trek DS9](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8263093) by [WriterToBridge](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterToBridge/pseuds/WriterToBridge). 



> Go read writertobridge's story "The Little Boy" in her ds9 prompted writings. It gave me some ideas which resulted in this thing that takes place immediately after her story. I'll update at some point.

“I’m Julian Bashir; what’s your name?”

The Cardassian child stared up at Julian. He seemed comfortable and had stopped crying for the moment, but Julian could still see fear written on the frightened boy’s face. Julian waited for a few moments while it looked like he was deep in thought- or as much as a child could be, anyway. Instead of answering, he buried his face in Julian’s uniform and held on tightly.

“Shh, it’s ok, see we’re almost back to the infirmary.”

The boy looked about 3.8 years old. How could such a young child, especially a Cardassian child, get so far away from his parents? Cardassians never took their children away from their homes. There were no Cardassian families on the station, and the boy was too young to have been one of the war orphans adopted by Bajorans. Unless his friend Garak was even better at lying than Julian suspected, the boy had to have come from some visiting Cardassians. The trouble was, he couldn’t remember any recently visiting. For that matter, he was certain that the last Cardassian he had seen on the station without an aptitude for tailoring had left over two weeks ago.

They reached the infirmary after a few minutes of pushing through curious onlookers on the Promenade. Many of them had never seen such a young Cardassian. For his part, the unnamed child had slightly loosened his grip on Julian’s shirt and was peering right back at the crowd.

“Here we are, right on time! Are you ready to see the Doctor?”

The child looked up at him, blue eyes now searching his face.

“Doctor?”

Julian smiled. “Yes, that’s right. I’m a Doctor.”

The child looked as if he were thinking about something. Julian could almost see the tiny wheels turning as he tried to understand something, though Julian didn’t know what. It was likely that he was unused to so much attention. Add that to being away from his family for so long in such an unfamiliar place, and it was a wonder the boy wasn’t still crying.

“I’m going to help you find your parents, as soon as I get you fixed up.” 

He walked through the doorway and pushed up the tiny sleeves to assess the damage.

“You’ve got a couple of cuts right there. I’ll patch those up in no time. Would you like to sit on the bed?”

The boy glanced nervously toward the bio bed and clung to Julian’s shirt.

“I promise it’s comfortable.” 

He nodded reluctantly.

Julian gently placed the boy on a bio bed and selected an instrument from a nearby table.

“Whas that?”

He held up the tool and walked back over to the child. 

“This is called a dermal regenerator. It’ll heal your skin and stop those cuts from hurting.”

The child eyed the metal device suspiciously, but seemed to trust the Doctor’s explanation. Julian wasn’t sure how much the boy was able to process at the moment, but he seemed fairly intelligent. 

“Can you hold your arm out for me?”

The boy nodded and slowly offered a small arm. Julian held it in place as he wiped away the little pin pricks of blood and passed a dermal regenerator over the wounds. He did the same for the other arm.

“There now, all better?”

The boy nodded his head as he tugged his sleeves back down.

“Let’s see, no more cuts. No bruises. You’re all better!” he gave his best warm-hearted smile, the one Yoshi seemed to respond to whenever the Chief brought him in. “Now, tell me, what’s your name?”

The child’s eye ridges scrunched up and he looked at the ground. After a few moments of silence, Julian took a seat next to him.

“It’s alright, I just want to help you find your family. Then we can get you home.”

Clearly, he had some reservations he wasn’t telling the Doctor about. The boy’s eye remained trained on the ground, and Julian was about ready to do a finger print scan before some angry Cardassian parents showed up demanding why a Star Fleet officer had kidnapped their son. Julian again tried to coax an answer from the child. 

“Well, if you don’t want anyone to know…”

He looked around, dropped his voice, and leaned down.

“… I promise I won’t tell anyone else.”

He smiled again, hoping he could appeal to some sort of playful instinct hidden inside the small Cardassian.

“Why?”

Julian laughed a bit and leaned back.

“Why? Well, I suppose I’d like to have something to call you. And I told you my name is Julian, so I suppose it’s only fair I know your name too.”

He shook his small head, clearly upset about something. Julian hoped he hadn’t upset him; he thought he was good with children, but he had never had to care for a young Cardassian before. The small head moved back up and two large blue eyes examined him.

“What’s my name?”

Julian was taken aback by the question. He stood up and studied the child. He had expected an answer; it wasn’t a difficult question. Perhaps somewhere he expected some controversial statement about the nature of naming or something that would lead to an argument that Cardassians were so fond of (as unlikely as it was, he didn’t know how young they started). What he hadn’t expected was the possibility of the youngest amnesiac he’d ever encountered. He frowned and bent down to the boy’s eye level.

“I… don’t know your name, that’s why I’m… What’s the last thing you remember before I found you?”

The boy drew his legs toward himself and curled two protective arms around them.

“It was… dark… scary… I couldn’t… couldn’t get out… I was…” 

Tears began to spill over his grey cheeks and his lip quivered too badly to allow any more words.

Julian scooped up the frightened child and tried to calm him.

“Shh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you again. You’re not there anymore; you’re safe.”

The child nodded into his shirt, but he didn’t seem ready to let go. Despite what Julian knew of Cardassians and their distrustful nature, this one seemed to have taken a strong interest in him. He made a mental note to pester Garak about it one day at lunch, knowing full well that his friend would have no intention of giving him a single insight into Cardassian children. Julian brushed his fingers through small strands of jet black hair in an attempt to sooth the quivering child.

“Do you know where your parents are?”

The boy remained shaking in his arms for a few moments. He quickly shook his head without removing it from the Doctor’s uniform. 

Julian sighed. The child either didn’t know anything or was even more secretive than Garak. Whatever the case, the questions seemed to be upsetting the child. Julian couldn’t say he blamed him. Getting stuck in that crawl space must have been terrifying. 

“I have an idea- let’s talk to my friend Constable Odo. He can help us find them. Does that sound alright?”

He smiled as a muffled “mhm” arose from the tiny Cardassian. 

“Well then, let’s call him right now.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odo shows up. Sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this and the next chapter together, but it ended up being longer than expected (and there's a nice even break) so they ended up being two chapters. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by so far!

“I’m sorry Doctor, but like you said, aside from Garak, there hasn’t been a Cardassian on Deep Space Nine in over two weeks."

Julian furrowed his brows and tried to recall anything that could contradict the records. He knew the Constable was correct, but there had to be something they were missing. The tiny Cardassian sitting in his lap must have come from somewhere off the station.

“Well he didn’t get here all by himself. Perhaps he snuck aboard a transport ship. Could you check the security tapes?” 

“Certainly, though I doubt they’ll tell us anything new.”

Julian sighed. He had expected as much. Although-

“Odo, could you check the security tapes near the crawl space where we found him? Maybe we could find out where he was on the station before all this happened, or at least what happened to cause his memory loss.”

Odo nodded his head and began entering a series of commands into his control station.

“About that. You said he showed no signs of head trauma?”

“That’s right. He had some minor scrapes and bruises on his arms, but other than that, he’s a picture of health. At least, according to what I know of Cardassians.”

“Do you have any idea what could have caused this?”

“I’ve got nothing that I can back with evidence, but I’m working on it. Of course, I can think of several dozen conditions that could have this effect, but without further testing, I have no way of knowing if those conditions even exist in Cardassians. And in order to put him through those tests, I’d have to get his guardian’s permission.”

“Which brings us back to our original problem. I’ll let you know if I find anything, Doctor. In the meantime, what do you propose we do with our… guest?”

Julian glanced down at the tiny Cardassian whose eyes were glued to the screen. He was surprised that he had been silently paying such close attention to their conversation. He had never met a Cardassian who could resist presenting their opinion for very long; perhaps it was another learned skill. He made a mental note to subtly bring it up next time he saw Garak. Julian looked back toward the screen.

“Well, assuming we can’t find his parents in the next few minutes, this will be my first time dealing with this sort of thing. Under normal circumstances, I’d ask one of the nurses to take care of him for the time being. However, after what he’s been through, it may not be the best idea to give a Cardassian child to Bajorans, even if they’re much more experienced with children than I am.”

Odo nodded his approval.

“True. Besides, it seems like he’s taken a liking to you, Doctor. Which is surprising, given the Cardassian’s distrustful nature. Perhaps if you spend some time with him, he’ll warm up even more.”

“Perhaps. What do you think, my little friend? How would you like to… say… go to the replimat with me? It’s almost my lunch break. I bet you’re hungry.”

The boy gave a small nod, but his eyes didn’t leave the screen. Julian was about to break the connection when he finally spoke.

“You’re the security man?”

Odo’s eyes narrowed briefly before returning to what the constable most likely hoped was a reassuring face.

“Yes. My name is Constable Odo. I’m the chief of security on deep space nine. And who might you be?”

The child looked back up at Doctor Bashir and tugged on his shirt. He looked down as the confused child turned his way and whispered,

“What do I say?”

Julian smiled at him and whispered back.

“Just tell him your name.”

His tiny eye ridges furrowed in an almost angry expression as his mouth began to take the unmistakable shape of a pout. 

“I don’t know. I’m a Cardassian.”

The boy turned back toward the screen. He tilted his chin up and resumed his previous volume.

“Imma Cardassian.”

The Constable gave a small “ah” and a half nod before looking at the doctor. Julian flashed an apologetic look and shrugged his shoulders. He was glad the boy was starting to sound more confident, even for a moment. The Constable cleared his throat.

“Well Doctor, I’ve got tapes to review and people to question. I’ll notify you as soon as I find anything.”

“Thanks Odo. I’ll do the same if anything turns up over here. Good luck.”

“You too. And Doctor- I’d keep an eye on him if I were you. I doubt he could get into much trouble given his age and condition, but we are on a Bajoran station.”

He gave Bashir a pointed look, one which the Doctor immediately understood. The boy was an easy target for any indiscriminate Bajorans looking for revenge on the Cardassians. 

“Understood. He’ll be with me at all times. Bashir out.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julian and Garak have one of their usual lunches at the replimat, with none of their usual conversation.

“Here we are, the finest dining establishment in the Alpha Quadrant: the replimat. What do you think?”

The Cardassian currently in possession of Julian’s left hand inspected the area with narrowed eyes. Thankfully, he didn’t seem nearly as overwhelmed as he had on their first walk through the Promenade. Now, he was examining everything, as if trying to memorize the station. Or perhaps, Julian hoped, he was trying to remember it. If the boy had been on Deep Space Nine long enough, it was possible that being in a familiar environment would trigger some of his memory.

“I’m hungry” was the only response Julian got. He smiled and led the boy over to his usual table and guided him toward one of the chairs. The child released his hand, crawled onto the metal chair, and slouched over.

“I’ll get us some food. You can wait here and guard our table. Can you do that for me?”

The boy perked up at the mention of a special task. He nodded in affirmation and resumed his scan of the Promenade, no doubt looking for suspicious characters determined to steal their table. Or not, Julian thought as he joined the line for the replicator. After all, he wasn’t even four yet. Julian wasn’t entirely certain how quickly Cardassians matured, but the boy seemed to be around the same stage of development as a Bajoran or Human child of the same age. He sighed. Instead of making any progress toward understanding his patient’s condition, he was adding to his ever-growing list of questions about Cardassians, many of which he had accepted as mysteries of life. Of course, that never stopped him from trying to wrestle answers out of Garak, but his attempts almost always proved futile. He was supposed to meet Garak for lunch tomorrow- if they hadn’t found the boy’s parents by then, he’d bring him to lunch and see if Garak could help them. Aside from being a friendly Cardassian face for the boy, his friend had quite the talent for finding things others simply had no way of obtaining, particularly when it came to information. He ordered their meals and returned to the table, where the boy was eyeing the food suspiciously.

“He we are. Tefla broth and fish juice for you, and endive salad, I’danian spiced pudding, and Tarkalean tea for me.”

He placed the dishes on the table and took a sip of his tea. The boy remained motionless for a moment, and then picked up his spoon and began poking at the broth. Julian smiled and gave a small laugh.

“Go on, it’s not poisoned. I promise it’ll be just as good as real Tefla broth.”

Still frowning, he dipped the spoon into his soup and gave a few cautious sniffs. After a small taste, he evidently decided that the Doctor had telling the truth and moved on to inspect the fish juice, which passed his scrutiny as well. Relieved that he was eating, Julian decided to try and make conversation after a few minutes of letting him eat in silence.

“You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had lunch with a Cardassian. I eat lunch here every week with a Cardassian friend of mine. In fact, we’re having lunch tomorrow. You can come with me and meet him, if you’d like. His name is Garak.”

The boy paused mid-scoop. His face scrunched up like he was trying to process something.

“Garak?”

Julian leaned forward and put his tea down.

“Yes, that’s right. Garak. He’s the station’s tailor. Have you heard the name before?”

Instead of replying, the boy continued staring at his broth, where his abandoned spoon was slowly sinking into the half-empty bowl. He repeated the name again, but said nothing else. The name obviously had some strange effect on the boy, but so far, Julian wasn’t sure if it was a positive or negative one. His reaction so far didn’t seem to be one of relief or happiness, but at least it was far from the hostile ones Garak so often received from Cardassians who knew of him. The boy looked just like he had in the infirmary, as if he were trying to recall something just out of reach. Perhaps if he had already met Garak, it would be best for Julian to ask Garak about the child before tomorrow. He wouldn’t want a repeat of the Rugal incident. Julian decided to press on with the conversation.

“We talk about all sorts of things, but we mostly argue about some manner of literature. Can you believe, the man actually enjoys the Never-Ending Sacrifice?”

Julian chuckled.

“I don’t suppose you know what that is.”

His grey forehead creased again, as if he were either offended or uncertain. 

“It’s a great book!”

What? Surely such a young child couldn’t have read one of Cardassia’s greatest epics. Perhaps he only knew of it by name- Julian wasn’t as familiar with Cardassian culture as he’d like to be. For all he knew, he had just insulted the Cardassian equivalent of Romeo and Juliet. Or, seeing as how Cardassians had no major religion, perhaps it held as high esteem on Cardassia Prime as the Bible or the Quran did on Earth.

“Well, what do you like about it?”

This time, he was certain that the creases were caused by confusion.

“I… don’t… it’s just a good book.”

Julian smiled, hoping to mask his obvious probing with a friendly face.

“Well, what’s good about it? Have your parents read it to you?”

The boy shook his head, but it seemed to be more out of confusion than denial.

“I dunno.”

He decided to try pressing just a little more.

“Do people talk about it where you’re from?”

All he earned this time was a tiny shake of the head accompanied by down-cast eyes. Julian sighed. For a moment, it seemed as if the boy were remembering something. Now, they were back to confused silence. Whatever the case, talking about anything Cardassian seemed to register with the boy. Julian definitely needed to talk to Garak. After a few moments of silence, he took his last sip of tea and smiled again.

“Well, my lunch break is just about over. I do hope you enjoyed your food. It’s the finest the replimat has to offer.”

The corners of the boy’s mouth lifted slightly as he nodded.

“Good. I’ll go put these dishes away, and then we can be on our way back to the infirmary!”

Julian took the dishes back for reclamation and walked over to the table. He offered his hand, which the young Cardassian took after sliding down from his chair. The two began their trek across the Promenade.

“I have an idea. I’ve been working on a project for a while that I think you’d find interesting. It involves several lasers, some tissue samples, a few odd proteins, and quite a lot of burning. Would you like to hear about it? I can show you when we get to the infirmary.”

Julian smiled as the boy looked up and nodded. He proceeded to make his latest research paper sound more like a holosuite adventure, with plenty of mysterious growths, unexpected twists, and, of course, the promised burning. He looked down every so often to see if he was boring his patient, but the Cardassian was paying close attention to his exaggerated tale. Perhaps Odo was right and the child was simply listening to a friendly voice. He couldn’t have understood half of what the Doctor was saying, but he was still listening. While Julian was glad that the boy was becoming more comfortable with him, it wasn’t getting them any closer to finding out who he was or where he came from. Julian hoped that Odo would call him soon with news from the security tapes or a witness. If not, he had the feeling that the only way he’d make any progress would be to talk to Garak.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Negative progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been forever since I updated- thank you for being patient with me. I've been meaning to write more to make this chapter longer, but I keep writing the later parts of the story. This is very short, but I figured I'd update it to let you know I'm still alive.

“Tell me you’ve got some good news Odo.”

The Constable called several hours after Julian and the Cardassian had arrived in the infirmary. After a bit of convincing, Julian got the boy to stay on a biobed while one of the nurses tried to make conversation. He glanced over to the other room to see if she had made any progress, but judging by her attention to a nearby lab table, it seemed that she had given up. The boy was glancing around nervously, but never turned his back on the nurse. Odo’s voice drew Julian’s attention back toward screen.

“I’m afraid not, Doctor. Quite the opposite. I tried to check the security tapes, but it seems as though they were malfunctioning in the section of the habitat ring where the boy was found. I have no security feed for an hour before you arrived and a half hour after.”

Julian groaned. 

“Well, there goes that idea. What happened?”

“I wish I knew. I’d ask the chief, but he’s currently with Commander Worf on the Defiant, in the Gamma Quadrant.”

“The Defiant? But I spoke with O’Brien this morning and he didn’t say anything about leaving the station today.”

“I’m sure he didn’t know. Commander Worf wanted to run the Defiant through some battle drills.”

“Ah. Well then, I’m sure no one on that ship but the Commander had any indication they’d be there today. He’s really ramped those up, hasn’t he?”

“Well, I’m not sure what you doctors and nurses do down there in the infirmary, but some of us like to be prepared for the worst.”

Julian chuckled a bit.

“Of course, Odo. I was only joking.”

Odo nodded and gave a hmph.

“I’ll ask the Chief about it as soon as he returns to the station. In the meantime, it seems you’d better decide what to do with our guest for the night.”

The Doctor glanced back again to see that the little Cardassian hadn’t moved from the biobed. The nurse had left to attend to other matters and his head was now swiveling around at full capacity, taking in all the surroundings that he had been too distressed to observe earlier.

“I think I’ll stay with him here a bit and see if I can’t get him to go to sleep.”

“You might be there a very long time, Doctor. As you already know, Cardassians aren’t the most trusting people, and I doubt this one will want to fall asleep in a room full of strangers, let alone Bajoran strangers.”

“Maybe you’re right, but I’m willing to bet he’ll be tired enough after today’s events to fall asleep eventually.”

Odo grunted.

“Good luck, Doctor. I’ll let you know what the Chief says as soon as I find out.”

“Thank you, Constable. I’ll need it. Bashir out.”


End file.
